_jetset_
Well-Known Member
I took Grace over to Manor Grange Stud yesterday... we have never been over there, but will certainly be going again because I thought it was incredibly well organised and was a lovely venue too! The warm up got a little busy at times, but it made me look up more which is not a bad thing
Our first test was P12... While tacking up I watched _Daisy_ riding her gorgeous girl! Once she is more settled about being out competing, she is going to be a stunning horse. Her paces are fabulous, but the arena was very spooky and it was making a few horses quite tense.
Nat1003 came and introduced herself and got roped into holding Grace while I put her tack on (I don't know how I would cope going on my own
). Thanks Natalie for everything yesterday, including the fantastic pictures you took of the two of us. When I figure out how to move them, I'll try and add some onto here.
As soon as I got on Grace I knew she was quite 'hot'. She was jogging going to the collecting ring and once in there she was increibly spooky, and wouldn't walk. She wanted to canter everywhere, so I let her get ridf of some energy by trying to get her cantering a little lower and deeper. This seemed to work, and by the time we were going in she was starting to settle a little. However, as soon as we got in the arena she felt like a bomb about to explode again and was having a bit of a girlie strop at the C end of the arena
We managed to get through the test, but she felt quite hard work... I had to be incredibly careful how much I put my leg on her, but she felt really uphill and ready. We came out with 68.9something% which I was really happy with, 5th place and a 9 for some trot work and some 8s for her canter!!!
Between the two tests we had about an hour and a half to kill, so on went the kettle and Natalie and I were chatting about everything and anything, while Andy watched TV in the car
I started warming up for N30 about 40 minutes before my time because she had been so full of it in the Prelim. And Grace did not disappoint. Every time I put my leg on slightly in the trot work she would canter, so again we had to do lots of work to get her to relax a bit and concentrate. I did quite a bit of work on my canter squares that Spencer did, and it brought her so much more underneath herself, her canter felt just fantastic.
We went in for the test and she was a bit happier going past C... She felt so good in the test, the best she has ever felt. We had two small errors, which were more my fault for not giving her the correct aids than anything else. In her first medium trot she broke into a canter, and in her medium walk I put my leg on too much and she cantered on the spot, so for these movements we got a 5
Her medium canter work received 6s, which I do know is a bit of a weakness for her as she has not really been established in the medium work and is very much a working progress, so I was absolutely shocked and thrilled when she ended up on 67.64%, her highest Novice mark, and placed 2nd!
It has just made me realise that she has improved so much since we first started doing BD in June... We have been stuck at 64% in the Novice and not really progressed, but yesterday made me feel that we should start concentrating more on the Novice tests and that she deserved to be in the class
Our first test was P12... While tacking up I watched _Daisy_ riding her gorgeous girl! Once she is more settled about being out competing, she is going to be a stunning horse. Her paces are fabulous, but the arena was very spooky and it was making a few horses quite tense.
Nat1003 came and introduced herself and got roped into holding Grace while I put her tack on (I don't know how I would cope going on my own
As soon as I got on Grace I knew she was quite 'hot'. She was jogging going to the collecting ring and once in there she was increibly spooky, and wouldn't walk. She wanted to canter everywhere, so I let her get ridf of some energy by trying to get her cantering a little lower and deeper. This seemed to work, and by the time we were going in she was starting to settle a little. However, as soon as we got in the arena she felt like a bomb about to explode again and was having a bit of a girlie strop at the C end of the arena
We managed to get through the test, but she felt quite hard work... I had to be incredibly careful how much I put my leg on her, but she felt really uphill and ready. We came out with 68.9something% which I was really happy with, 5th place and a 9 for some trot work and some 8s for her canter!!!
Between the two tests we had about an hour and a half to kill, so on went the kettle and Natalie and I were chatting about everything and anything, while Andy watched TV in the car
I started warming up for N30 about 40 minutes before my time because she had been so full of it in the Prelim. And Grace did not disappoint. Every time I put my leg on slightly in the trot work she would canter, so again we had to do lots of work to get her to relax a bit and concentrate. I did quite a bit of work on my canter squares that Spencer did, and it brought her so much more underneath herself, her canter felt just fantastic.
We went in for the test and she was a bit happier going past C... She felt so good in the test, the best she has ever felt. We had two small errors, which were more my fault for not giving her the correct aids than anything else. In her first medium trot she broke into a canter, and in her medium walk I put my leg on too much and she cantered on the spot, so for these movements we got a 5
Her medium canter work received 6s, which I do know is a bit of a weakness for her as she has not really been established in the medium work and is very much a working progress, so I was absolutely shocked and thrilled when she ended up on 67.64%, her highest Novice mark, and placed 2nd!
It has just made me realise that she has improved so much since we first started doing BD in June... We have been stuck at 64% in the Novice and not really progressed, but yesterday made me feel that we should start concentrating more on the Novice tests and that she deserved to be in the class
